What's going on
Last Tuesday (October 11) we had a fantastic community meeting with Priscilla Lopez as our guest speaker. Priscilla Lopez was in the original cast of "A Chorus Line" as Diana Morales and was last seen on Broadway in the Tony Award Winning Musical, "In the Heights."
Priscilla Lopez was a breath of fresh air. She was light and open and generous in the sharing of her experiences to us. Of all the stories that she's shared what I keenly remember was her mentioning that she had her first child at 36 years old and her second child at 41. I think this story resonated with a lot of the young women in the Drama Division who have decided to put their personal lives on hold to pursue meaning and purpose through their work. As a woman who grew up in Philippine culture, I felt constantly surrounded by people who question a woman's value (whether consciously or unconsciously) based on whether she has chosen to have a partner or not. Being free from that culture and seeing women like Priscilla reinforces my faith in what I have chosen to prioritize despite the pervading expectations from women of my culture. As I move forward in my work and tackle challenges living on my own in New York City, I feel more empowered in my ability to thrive even without the benefits that people ascribe to having a "partner."
"...have patience in your careers and your personal lives." - Priscilla Lopez
On other matters
Things are good, really. And what I mean by good is that I can feel myself growing and expanding bit by bit and brick by brick. I feel different about myself and I feel that I navigate my way through my every day life in a new way distinct from how I was in the Philippines or even from my first year at Juilliard. I can take on more things now, yet I feel much lighter. I feel as if I have released myself from a lot of things I used to be very attached to. I used to firmly believe I needed to have a few key things at my disposal to preserve my happiness and sanity. When most of those things were taken away from me as I tackled on the challenges of searching for and maintaining my own apartment (and dealing with bed bugs), I realized I can function very well independent from them. I feel more air around me, and a little more brave and self-sufficient.
Juilliard Blog Entries
Here are my new blog entries for the Juilliard Admissions blog for October 3 and 11, 2016.
A Tour of the Drama Ladies Dressing Rooms The Universe Moves in a Circle
For next week I'll be posting an entry on "A Day in the Life of a Juilliard Drama Student" so watch out for that!